Siren's Mark

Chapter 14

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

Who the fuck told Ava I got in a fight with Mike?

It has to be Kieran. As far as everyone else knows, Mike got in a fight with that random guy.

Did Mike say something? What could he possibly say?

'Zane convinced me to go get in a fight with this other guy so it's really his fault'? I'm sure that would go over well. 'How did he convince me, you ask? I assume he has touch-based hypnotic powers.'

I'm being paranoid. There's no way she knows. Mike probably just lied to her.

I hear footsteps approaching my door followed by a knock.

"Hey," I say tentatively as I open the door. She looks upset and her heart is beating rapidly beneath her skin.

Fuck.

"I know you got in a fight with Mike," she said. "Why did you lie to me?"

Fuck.

"I..." I run my hands through my hair, tugging slightly. "I didn't lie to you. I just didn't tell you everything."

She looks furious, but also hurt.

Does she know what I am? How? She's going to leave me, isn't she?

"And the part you left out was the part where you broke his face?" she asks, exasperated.

"Whoa whoa," I say. "I didn't do that. I mean, I'm not blameless here but I did not hit him and I did not break his face."

She looks at me with questioning eyes. I can tell she's struggling with whether or not to believe me.

"I don't know what's worse," she says, "the fact that you're lying to me about punching him or the fact that you punched him because he was saying sexual things about your girlfriend."

I'm taken back by the way she just threw the word 'girlfriend' out there. Part of me is pissed at the context but another part still wants to smile.

"You know that he said those things about you?" I ask. "Who told you that?"

"Oh please, Zane, save it! I mean your other girlfriend, the one who was there with you—the one you were fighting over?"

Wait... What?

"I'm... I..." I stutter, trying to wrap my mind around what she's saying. "I did what now?"

"You heard me. I know what the fight was really over."

"Wha-..." I say. I'm at a loss for words. "What are we talking about right now? I'm bloody confused."

"Shayna told me everything, okay?" she said, her eyes filling with tears.

Shayna? Shayna wasn't even there that night. What would she know about...

Oh my god.

Fucking... She heard a rumor? That's what's happening right now.

I reach out to touch her shoulders, pulling her to look toward me. Her arms remain tightly crossed and her eyebrows are furrowed.

Of all the things I thought would screw me in this relationship, a random rumor about me having another girlfriend was not one of them.

"I don't have another girlfriend. It's just you, love. This is clearly a misunderstanding. Please," I beg, "please believe me."

She seems lost in thought.